Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Cover art by Jef Whitehead] Cognizance’s In Light, No Shape serves as a useful reminder that when it comes to our musical preferences, our whats are subservient to our whys. If, for example, you are a fan of the early …
[Cover artwork by Michael Cloutier] Prog, of course, is known for technical musicianship and songwriting complexity above all else, a reputation well-earned by the early giants of the genre and happily maintained by their progeny ever since. It’s also true …
[Cover artwork by Timbul Cahyono] In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I’ve always found the concept of the split to be flawed. It works best when there’s a shared theme or the band’s involved cover each …
[Cover art by Mars Triumph] Petrichor, the sixth full length album from Greece’s epic metal stalwarts Battleroar, commences with the sound of rain and an invitation to reflect. That word, “petrichor,” is a relatively new one (coined by scientists in …
Dire Peril’s long-gestating debut full-length The Extraterrestrial Compendium is something of an unexpected gift in a year that has already seen new albums from guitarist Jason Ashcraft’s other band Helion Prime and vocalist John Yelland’s …
“Album Of The Day” is a Last Rites Facebook feature we started whose purpose is quite straight-forward: highlight one album per day and say a few words about it. Understanding that not everyone chooses to …
Edge of Sanity never fit in. Although they spent their formative years during the rise of Swedish death metal, they never released a classic regular death metal album, nor did they do the obvious thing …
Metal and darkness have been enthusiastic partners since the very moment “Black Sabbath” first lifted from a speaker. Consequently, the near half-century that’s followed has found our genre exploring every facet of light’s mortal enemy—from …
October is the month of Halloween, so naturally, October is the month of horror movies, so naturally naturally, October is the month of Cannibal Corpse. They are forever the horror movie metal band to end …
Fast Rites: because sometimes brevity is fundamental. Windfaerer succeeds where many other atmospheric black metal bands have lately flopped by never leaving the ferocity of black metal too far behind in favor of overly wispy …
Residing in the Pacific Northwest, doom is hardly an outlier in the emotional terrain of music. Seattle, Washington’s UN has drawn from their landscape, the gray skies and their own profound experiences with life’s terminal …
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, class is back in session. For this lesson in Riffology, we will be taking a break from Morbid Angel, but we will be returning once again to the year 1989 and …
